1952 Gibson ES-295: Rockabilly’s Golden Icon!
1952 Gibson ES-295: Rockabilly’s Golden Icon!
Back in the Vault with Nathaniel's dream guitar! Nathaniel Murphy and Daniel Escauriza sit down in The Vault at Chicago Music Exchange to talk about one of the cleanest Gibson ES-295s we've ever seen. Stay tuned for more features on the best vintage and rare guitars in the building! The Gibson ES-295, introduced in 1952, is one of rock and roll's most iconic archtop guitars. With its striking gold finish, florentine cutaway, and P-90 pickups, this guitar became a favorite of legends like Scotty Moore, who used it to shape the sound of early rock ‘n’ roll.
Transcription:
Hi folks, back in the vault with Daniel, and we're talking about one of my personal dream guitars, and this one is quite a special version, right? ES-295? Yeah, beautiful guitar, also a dream guitar of mine. Um, just what makes this one particularly special is that it's just in such good condition. We have another guitar that's all gold here, the '57 Goldtop that we have, and just like that one, this was also a one-owner guitar. I love 295s. I always try to buy them when I can, so we've had a lot here through the years. This one is truly such a great example of one. It is just so clean. Uh, again, one of those situations where it was actually played, but it was clean and maintained, so it has both the kind of broken-in, you know, feel, sound-type thing, but it also is so clean. As soon as I saw this, I thought, "Okay, this is vault-worthy. This should go in the vault."
Everything on this guitar is so clean; every screw, the guard, the knobs, all of it. It's just so beautifully maintained. I recently actually learned that, uh, because I was wondering, you know, where this model came from, and I was wondering if it was intended for a specific artist or something like that originally. And the story goes, I can't confirm this, I wasn't there, but that, um, Les Paul called Gibson and asked them to finish a 175, a normal ES-175, in all gold for, apparently, this sick kid in a hospital. He wanted to give it to him or something like that, and he wanted to make it special, so they painted it all gold, and that may have been the conception of the 295 as a model. Uh, just a, you know, 175 that was painted all gold, special for this occasion. And then, of course, it took off with players like, really, Scotty Moore is, as you know, the person that really brought this to the forefront. And, um, rightfully so, because it's such a great guitar. It's one of those rare instances where a guitar with this long trapeze wraparound bridge actually works. Um, 'cause, as you know, and the main reason why, is 'cause the neck angle is, you know, it, you know, the neck angle was more extreme on hollow bodies, always, because they always had these floating bridges that were pretty tall, so the neck angle actually makes this work. Yeah. Yeah, with this guitar, whereas in an early Les Paul of the same year, even, it's not a great guitar usually, because the neck angle isn't there. Yeah. I mean, I'm just imagining being a kid in 1952, walking by a window and seeing that. Yeah, it must have been spectacular, unreal. It also has the original case; it's in equally good condition. Uh, just one of those guitars, again, that was played, but very well taken care of.
Everything on this guitar is so clean; every screw, the guard, the knobs, all of it. It's just so beautifully maintained. I recently actually learned that, uh, because I was wondering, you know, where this model came from, and I was wondering if it was intended for a specific artist or something like that originally. And the story goes, I can't confirm this, I wasn't there, but that, um, Les Paul called Gibson and asked them to finish a 175, a normal ES-175, in all gold for, apparently, this sick kid in a hospital. He wanted to give it to him or something like that, and he wanted to make it special, so they painted it all gold, and that may have been the conception of the 295 as a model. Uh, just a, you know, 175 that was painted all gold, special for this occasion. And then, of course, it took off with players like, really, Scotty Moore is, as you know, the person that really brought this to the forefront. And, um, rightfully so, because it's such a great guitar. It's one of those rare instances where a guitar with this long trapeze wraparound bridge actually works. Um, 'cause, as you know, and the main reason why, is 'cause the neck angle is, you know, it, you know, the neck angle was more extreme on hollow bodies, always, because they always had these floating bridges that were pretty tall, so the neck angle actually makes this work. Yeah. Yeah, with this guitar, whereas in an early Les Paul of the same year, even, it's not a great guitar usually, because the neck angle isn't there. Yeah. I mean, I'm just imagining being a kid in 1952, walking by a window and seeing that. Yeah, it must have been spectacular, unreal. It also has the original case; it's in equally good condition. Uh, just one of those guitars, again, that was played, but very well taken care of.
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